We all are familiar with some of the negative gamer stereotypes that have been circulating around the US for years – that gamers are all fat, smelly and socially awkward virgins is just plain wrong. One of the ways that we can escape these stereotypes is by reinforcing the positive ones, one of which is that gamers are creative. I’ve known many people that have … Continue reading →

Having a unified buying experience is an essential quality of a true cross-platform application. Many people have asked how I overcame the challenge of creating a consistent marketplace for my cross-platform game, Hero Mage, so I’ve put together this brief tutorial and downloadable example. This tutorial doesn’t cover writing ANE’s or setting up vendor-specific storefront; rather, it demonstrates how to write a common interface that … Continue reading →

If the latest advances in Flash player and Adobe AIR…Stage 3D, Starling, Feathers, direct deploy to iOS, and more haven’t yet convinced you of Adobe’s commitment to empowering game developers, then it’s time to put these tools and your skills to the test at Adobe Game Jam! If you’re in or around the Chicago area, their next event takes place in just a couple weeks … Continue reading →

With the advent of mobile app stores, there is more potential than ever for independent game developers to arise and become the next generation of game innovators. But how can small or even one-man teams possibly manage the technical complexities of developing on so many diverse platforms? Enter Adobe Flash, a visual development tool with the capability to export games to web, Android, and iOS. … Continue reading →

The key to a successful multiplayer game is having a critical mass of people to play with each other. But how do you amass players without an initial player base in the first place? Remove the requirement of "must-be-online-to-play". Asynchronous matchmaking enables players to engage in multiplayer games, even if they’re not online! Random matchups allow players to meet new people and make new friends, … Continue reading →

Adobe Flash Professional is an amazing tool for developing multiscreen games and applications. I’m developing a new suite of UI components to help make the process of creating multiscreen compatible user interfaces even easier called Aura. These components adapt themselves automatically to function effectively for both desktop computers and mobile touchscreens. This video demonstrates the components in action from within the Flash Professional IDE: Features of Aura … Continue reading →

Asynchronous multiplayer games are awesome because players can enjoy social gaming experiences without having to commit to long sit-down sessions. This convenient style of play is made possible by online servers that deliver updates on games being played directly to a player’s device. This article will explain how games previously saved to a database are loaded by the server and made accessible within the game … Continue reading →

The Future of Flash tour hit Chicago last night so I had the chance to connect with Lee Brimelow and Mike Chambers, and Chicago’s Adobe User Group. It was an excellent and informative presentation about the roadmap for the Flash runtime that touched on Adobe’s definitive white paper resource located here: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplatform/whitepapers/roadmap.html The biggest concern from Adobe users at the session was undoubtedly the new … Continue reading →

Asynchronous multiplayer games allow two or more people to play together without the need to be participating in the session at the same time. A key component of supporting asynchronous gameplay is saving the game state to an online database so that it can be retrieved by you and your opponents when it’s time to take the next turn. This article will explain how I … Continue reading →